Demodulation method using phase detection and apparatus thereof

ABSTRACT

A demodulation method using phase detection and an apparatus thereof are provided. The demodulation method includes detecting phase information by sampling a received signal, synchronizing at least one clock signal by using the detected phase information, oversampling the received signal by the synchronized clock signal, and demodulating the received signal by using the oversampled result. With this, the demodulating apparatus can demodulate the modulated signal by using the phase detection, and use a digital filter as a filter for removing a jitter from the demodulated signal, thereby allowing a size thereof to be minimized.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) of KoreanPatent Application No. 10-2006-0115948, filed Nov. 22, 2006, in theKorean Intellectual Property Office, the entire disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Methods and apparatuses consistent with the present invention relategenerally to signal demodulation, and more particularly, to demodulatinga signal by using phase detection.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Phase shift keying (PSK) is a method, for taking data on a highfrequency of carrier wave and sending it. PSK transmits a signal inwhich converting any one of a phase, an amplitude and a frequency of thecarrier wave or a combination, thereof, in converted into digital dataof 0 and 1.

In the PSK method, there is known a binary phase shift keying (BPSK)method, which transmits digital signals of two values (0 and 1) whilemaking them correspond to 0 phase and π phase of the carrier wave,respectively. There is also known a quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK)method, which gathers and transmits two bits of 0 and 1, which aredigital signals of two values, while making them correspond to fourphases of the carrier wave.

Also, there are known an 8 PSK method, which can transmit informationthree times larger than in the BPSK method, and a 16 PSK method, whichcan transmit information four times larger than in the BPSK method, atthe same frequency band as that of the BPSK method.

A method of recovering data from a received signal is known, whichadjusts a sine wave of a receiving end to have the same phase as acarrier wave of a transmitting end by using a feedback loop and thenmultiplies the received signal by the adjusted sine wave to recover thedata.

An apparatus, which is mostly used in such a method, is a COSTAS-loop. Aconstruction of a related art COSTAS-loop as illustrated in FIG. 1. TheCOSTAS-loop illustrated in FIG. 1 is made up of first, second, and thirdmixers 110, 160, and 130, first and second low pass filters (LPF), aloop filter 140, and a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) 150.

The first mixer 110 mixes a modulated signal m(t)cos(ωt) inputted fromthe outside and a sine wave signal cos(ωt+θ), which is an oscillationsignal outputted from the VCO 150, and supplies the mixed signal to thefirst low pass filter 120. The second mixer 160 mixes the modulatedsignal m(t)cos(ωt) inputted from the outside and a sine wave signalsin(ωt+θ), which is an oscillation signal outputted from the VCO 150,and supplies the mixed signal to the second low pass filter 170. Thus,if a receiving end has a phase difference as much as θ to a carrier waveof a transmitting end, the signals outputted from the first and thesecond mixers 110 and 160 are as follows, respectively.

m(t)cos(ωt)cos(ωt+θ)=m(t){cos θ+cos(2ωt+θ)}/2

m(t)cos(ωt)sin(ωt+θ)=m(t){sin θ+sin(2ωt+θ)}/2

The first and the second low pass filters 120 and 170 pass only requiredsignals of low frequency band with filtering jitter signals of highfrequency band from the inputted signals. The signals outputted from thefirst and the second low pass filters 120 and 170 are m(t)cos θ andm(t)sin θ, respectively. Since θconverges to 0, m(t) can be recoveredwhen a phase difference comes to 0.

The third mixer 130 mixes the signals outputted from the first and thesecond low pass filters 120 and 170 and supplies the mixed signal to theloop filter 140. The mixed signal is supplied to the VCO 150 via theloop filter 140. The VCO 150 produces oscillation signals according to avoltage control on basis of the signal outputted from the loop filter140, and supplies the oscillation signals, which have a phase differenceof 90° to each other, to the first and the second mixers 110 and 120,respectively.

However, to recover a carrier wave of high frequency, when theCOSTAS-loop as described above is used, there is a difficulty inembodying the LPF. Particularly, in embodying the LPF, which is ananalog filter, even though a RC filter having simplified structure isused, a flatness of frequency response at a high frequency is not good.Also, since capacitors occupy a large area, a problem occurs, in that itis difficult to fabricate a small filter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An aspect of the present invention is to address at least the aboveproblems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantagesdescribed below. Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention is toprovide a demodulation method and an apparatus thereof, which sample amodulated signal by using a phase detection and demodulate the modulatedsignal by using the sampled result, thereby allowing a low pass filternot to use.

Another aspect is to provide a demodulation apparatus, which use adigital filter as a filter for removing a jitter from a demodulatedsignal, thereby allowing a size thereof to be minimized.

According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, there is provided a demodulation method, including: detectingphase information by sampling a received signal, synchronizing at leastone clock by using the detected phase information, oversampling thereceived signal by the synchronized clock, and demodulating the receivedsignal by using the oversampled result.

The oversampling may include measuring levels of the received signal atrising edges and falling edges of the synchronized clock.

The demodulating may include non-reversing the levels measured at therising edges of the synchronized clock and reversing the levels measuredat the falling edges of the synchronized clock.

The number of the synchronized clock may be greater than two.

The synchronized clock used at the oversampling may have a predeterminedphase difference to a carrier wave included in the received signal.

The predetermined phase difference may be positive number times as largeas a value obtained by dividing π by the number of the synchronizedclock.

The oversampling may include sampling the received signal at least morethan two times during a clock period.

The method may further include removing a jitter from the demodulatedsignal.

According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, there is provided a demodulation apparatus, including a phasedetecting unit to detect phase information by sampling a receivedsignal, a clock control unit to synchronize at least one clock by usingthe detected phase information, and a demodulating unit to oversamplethe received signal by the synchronized clock, and to demodulate thereceived signal by using the oversampled result.

The demodulating unit may measure levels of the received signal atrising edges and falling edges of the synchronized clock.

The demodulating unit does not reverse the levels measured at the risingedges of the synchronized clock and reverses the levels measured at thefalling edges of the synchronized clock.

The number of the synchronized clock may be greater than two.

The synchronized clock used by the demodulating unit may have apredetermined phase difference to a carrier wave included in thereceived signal.

The predetermined phase difference may be positive number times as largeas a value obtained by dividing π by the number of the synchronizedclock.

The demodulating unit may sample the received signal at least more thantwo times during a clock period.

The apparatus may further include a filter to remove a jitter from thedemodulated signal.

The filter may include a digital filter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

The above other aspects of the present invention will become moreapparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof withreference to the attached drawing figures, wherein;

FIG. 1 is a block diagram exemplifying a construction of a related artCOSTAS-loop;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram exemplifying a demodulation apparatus, whichdemodulates a received signal by using a phase detection, in accordancewith an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart exemplifying a method, which the demodulationapparatus in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention demodulates the received signal by using the phase detection;

FIG. 4 is a timing diagram exemplifying an operation of a demodulatingunit of the demodulation apparatus in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, which demodulates the receivedsignal by using the phase detection; and

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram exemplifying a phase detecting unit and thedemodulating unit of the demodulation apparatus in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, a demodulation method and an apparatus thereof inaccordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing figures.Throughout the drawings, the same drawing reference numerals will beunderstood to refer to the same elements, features, and structures.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram exemplifying a demodulation apparatus, whichdemodulates a received signal by using phase detection, in accordancewith an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.2, the demodulation apparatus in accordance with the exemplaryembodiment of the present invention is provided with a phase detectingunit 210, a clock control unit 220, a clock producing unit 230, ademodulating unit 240, a filter 250, and a clock data recovery (CDR)260.

The phase detecting unit 210 samples a received signal by using clocksignals to detect phase information of the received signal. Generally,the received signal is a modulated signal in which a carrier wavecarries data. The clock control unit 220 synchronizes clock signalsreceived from the clock producing unit 230 to have a predetermined phasedifference to the carrier wave, on the basis of the phase informationreceived from the phase detecting unit 210, and supplies thesynchronizes clock signals to the phase detecting unit 210 and thedemodulating unit 240. At this time, if the received signal is a BPSKsignal, it is preferable that the clock control unit 220 synchronizestwo clock signals, one of which is a clock having the same phase as thatof the carrier wave and the other of which is a clock having a phasedifference as much as π/2 to the carrier wave.

The clock producing unit 230 produces clock signals which are suppliedto the clock control unit 220. At this time, it may be preferable that afrequency of the clock signals produced by the clock producing unit 230is the same as that of the carrier wave. The clock producing unit 230may be included in the clock control unit 220.

The demodulating unit 240 receives a signal, oversamples the receivedsignal by using the synchronized clock signals, demodulates the receivedsignal by using the oversampled result, and supplies the demodulatedsignal to the filter 250. The oversampling means that a sampling iscarried out more than two times during a clock period. A method ofdemodulating the received signal by using the oversampled result will bedescribed later.

The filter 250 removes a jitter, which exists in the demodulated signaloutputted from the demodulating unit 240, and supplies thejitter-removed, demodulated signals to the CDR 260. The CDR 260 recoversclock signals and data from the demodulated signal supplied from thefilter 250. The filter 250 and the CDR 260 may be optionally applied tothe demodulation apparatus.

Hereinafter, a method, which the demodulation apparatus illustrated inFIG. 2 demodulates the received signal, will be described in detail withreference to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a flowchart exemplifying a method, whichthe demodulation apparatus in accordance with an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention demodulates a received signal by using a phasedetection. For explanatory convenience, the received signal will beexplained as a BPSK signal.

Referring to FIG. 3, first, the phase detecting unit 210 samples areceived signal and thus detects phase information of the receivedsignal (S310). At this time, clock signals are supplied from the clockcontrol unit 220.

The clock control unit 220 synchronizes the clock signals to have apredetermined difference to a carrier wave of the received signal byusing the phase information supplied from the phase detecting unit 210,and supplies the synchronized clock signals to the phase detecting unit210 and the demodulating unit 240 (S320). At this time, it is preferablethat the clock signals synchronized by the clock control unit 220 is twoclock signals, one of which has the same phase as that of the carrierwave and the other of which has a phase difference as much as π/2relative to the carrier wave.

The demodulating unit 240 oversamples the received signal by the clocksignal having the phase difference as much as π/2 relative to thecarrier wave out of the two synchronized clock signals (S330).

Also, the demodulating unit 240 demodulates the received signal by usingthe oversampled result. At this time, the demodulating unit 240demodulates in such a manner that it does not reverse levels measured atrising edges of the synchronized clock signal, but reverses levelsmeasured at falling edges of the synchronized clock signal (S340).

The filter 250 removes a jitter from the demodulated signal suppliedfrom the demodulating unit 240 (S350). Also, since the signal inputtedinto the filter 250 is a digital signal, the filter 250 uses a digitalfilter unlike the conventional analog filter. The digital filter isadvantageous in that it is easy to redesign conforming to a new processand occupies a small space as compared with the analog filter.Accordingly, the digital filter can embody the demodulation apparatus tobe miniaturized.

Finally, the CDR 260 recovers clock signals and data from thedemodulated signal supplied from the filter 250 (S360).

FIG. 4 is a timing diagram exemplifying an operation of the demodulatingunit 240, which demodulates a received signal by using phase detection.For explanatory convenience, the received signal is explained as a BPSKsignal, and a method of modulating by taking an original signal on acarrier wave and a method of demodulating the received signal by thedemodulating unit 240 are explained together. Also, clock signals outputfrom the clock control unit 220 are in a state where they have beenalready synchronized with the received signal.

It may be preferable that a waveform (a), as an original signal, isdigital. A waveform (b) is a carrier wave. A modulated signal isproduced by multiplying the original signal by the carrier wave. To bemore specific, when a logic level of the carrier wave is ‘high’, a logiclevel of the modulated signal is ‘high’ if a logic level of the originalsignal is ‘high’. Also, when the logic level of the carrier wave is‘high’, but the logic level of the original signal is ‘low’, the logiclevel of the modulated signal is ‘low’.

To the contrary, when the logic level of the carrier wave is ‘low’, butthe logic level of the original signal is ‘high’, the logic level of themodulated signal is ‘low’, whereas when the logic level of the carrierwave is ‘low’, but the logic level of the original signal is ‘low’, thelogic level of the modulated signal is ‘high’. The signal modulated asdescribed above is the same as illustrated in a waveform (c) of FIG. 4.If the signal modulated like the waveform (c) is supplied to thedemodulating unit 240 of a receiver, that is, the demodulationapparatus, the demodulating unit 240 carries out an oversampling byusing the supplied signal and clock signals. At this time, the clocksignals, as clock signals synchronized by the clock control unit 220,have a predetermined phase difference to the received signal. In a waveform (d), a clock signal having the same phase as that of the carrierwave and a clock signal having a phase difference as much as π/2relative to the carrier wave are shown. On the other end, even though inoversampling, the clock having the same phase as that of the carrierwave is used, it does not contribute in demodulating the signal.Accordingly, hereinafter, only a method of demodulating by using theonly clock signal having the phase difference as much as π/2 to thecarrier wave will be described.

The oversampling is carried out in such a manner that levels of thereceived signal at the rising edges and the falling edges of the clocksignal are measured. The measured levels are the same as illustrated in(e) of FIG. 4.

Next, the demodulating unit 240 demodulates the received signal by usingthe oversampled result. At this time, the demodulating unit 240 does notreverse levels measured at the rising edges of the clock signal, butreverses levels measured at the falling edges of the clock signal. As aresult, the obtained levels are the same as illustrated (f), and thedemodulated signal is the same as a waveform (g) of FIG. 4.

After all, it can be appreciated that since the waveform (a), which isthe original signal, is the same as the waveform (g), which is thedemodulated signal, the received signal can be demodulated through thephase detection. Although the demodulated signal illustrated in FIG. 4is assumed as a signal in an ideal case where a jitter is not generatedin process of oversampling, it goes without saying that the demodulatedsignal may include the jitter generated in process of oversampling.

In FIG. 4, since the received signal is the BPSK signal, the number ofthe synchronized clock signals is two, and the received signal isoversampled two times during a level period in process of demodulation.However, even though the received signal is the BPSK signal, it can bedemodulated by using more than three clock signals, which have a phasedifference to each other. Thus, if the received signal is the BPSKsignal, in order to demodulate it, more than two clock signals includinga clock having the same phase as that of the carrier wave are required.

Also, in FIG. 4, although the received signal is exemplified as the BPSKsignal, the present invention is not limited thereto. Namely, thedemodulation apparatus in accordance with the exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention is applicable to a modulated signal havingmultiplex phase. For instance, if the modulated signal is a quadraturephase shift keying (QPSK) signal, the received signal can be demodulatedin such a manner that by using clock signals having phase differences asmuch as 0, π/4, π/2, 3π/4 relative to the carrier wave, respectively, itis oversampled at rising edges and falling edges of the clock everyclock. In the same manner, if the received signal is a N-PSK signal, itcan be demodulated by using clock signals having phase differences asmuch as 0, π/N, 2π/N, 3π/N, . . . (N−1)π/N relative to the carrier wave,respectively.

Thus, if the received signal is an M-PSK signal, in order to demodulateit, at least M clock signals are required, and the rest of clock signalsexcept a clock signal having the same phase as that of the carrier waveamong the M clock signals have phase differences, which are positivenumber times as large as π/M relative to the carrier wave, respectively.Also, since the sampling is carried at rising edges and falling edges ofthe respective clock signals, it may be preferable that during one clockperiod, clock signals of the same number as a value obtained by dividingthe sampling number by 2 is used in demodulating the signal.

The clock signals supplied to the demodulating unit 240 and the phasedetecting unit 210 from the clock control unit are synchronized clocksignals. Accordingly, if the number of the synchronized clock signals istwo, the synchronized clock signals can be supplied to the demodulatingunit 240 and the phase detecting unit 210, in such a manner that the twosynchronized clock signals are supplied to the demodulating unit 240 andthe phase detecting unit 210, respectively, or the two synchronizedclock signals are supplied to the phase detecting unit 210 and at thesame time, one of the two synchronized clock signals, particularly, asynchronized clock signal having a phase different from that of thecarrier wave is supplied to the demodulating unit 240. Also, thesynchronized clock signals can be supplied to the demodulating unit 240and the phase detecting unit 210, in such a manner that a synchronizedclock signal having the same phase as that of the carrier wave issupplied to the phase detecting unit 210 and the synchronized clocksignal having the phase different from that of the carrier wave issupplied to the demodulating unit 240.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram exemplifying the phase detecting unit 210and the demodulating unit 240 of the demodulation apparatus inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Circuits illustrated in FIG. 5 include six flip-flops and fivemultiplexers (MUX). Each of the flip-flops is a storing element, whichtemporarily stores a signal received from the outside and outputs it interms of bits to the corresponding MUXs. Each of the MUXs selectivelyoutputs any one of signals in terms of bits inputted from thecorresponding flip-flops by using clock signals.

Particularly, a first MUX 550 and a fourth MUX 565 sample the receivedsignal by using flip-flops 510, 515, 520 and 525 and reverse levelsmeasured at falling edges of the clock signals to output a demodulatedsignal to the filter 250. Also, a fifth MUX 570 and flip-flops 530 and535 produce phase information by using signals outputted from a secondMUX 555 and a third MUX 560, and output the produced phase informationto the clock control unit 220.

As apparent from the foregoing description, according to the exemplaryembodiments of the present invention, the demodulation method and theapparatus thereof can sample the received signal by using the phasedetection and demodulate the received signal by using the sampledresult. Further, the demodulation apparatus according to the exemplaryembodiment of the present invention does not use a low pass filter, butthe digital filter as a filter for removing a jitter from thedemodulated signal, thereby allowing a size thereof to be minimized.

Although representative exemplary embodiments of the present inventionhas been shown and described in order to exemplify the principle of thepresent invention, the present invention is not limited to the specificexemplary embodiments. It will be understood that various modificationsand changes can be made by one skilled in the art without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.Therefore, it shall be considered that such modifications, changes andequivalents thereof are all included within the scope of the presentinvention.

1. A demodulation method comprising: detecting phase information bysampling a received signal; synchronizing at least one clock signalbased on the detected phase information; oversampling the receivedsignal by the synchronized clock signal to generate an oversampledresult; and demodulating the received signal based on the oversampledresult.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the oversampling comprisesmeasuring levels of the received signal at rising edges and fallingedges of the synchronized clock signal.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein the demodulating comprises not reversing the levels measured atthe rising edges of the synchronized clock signals and reversing thelevels measured at the falling edges of the synchronized clock signal.4. The method of claim 1, wherein a number of synchronized clock signalsis greater than two.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the synchronizedclock signal has a phase difference relative to a carrier wave includedin the received signal.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the phasedifference is a multiple of a value obtained by dividing π by the numberof synchronized clock signals.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein theoversampling comprises sampling the received signal more than two timesduring a clock period.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprisingremoving a jitter from the demodulated received signal.
 9. Ademodulation apparatus, comprising: a phase detecting unit which detectsphase information by sampling a received signal; a clock control unitwhich synchronizes at least one clock signal based on the detected phaseinformation; and a demodulating unit which oversamples the receivedsignal by the synchronized clock signal, and demodulates the receivedsignal based on oversampled result.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9,wherein the demodulating unit measures levels of the received signal atrising edges and falling edges of the synchronized clock signal.
 11. Theapparatus of claim 10, wherein the demodulating unit does not reversethe levels measured at the rising edges of the synchronized clock signaland reverses the levels measured at the falling edges of thesynchronized clock signal.
 12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein anumber of synchronized clock signals is greater than two.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 12, wherein the synchronized clock signal used by thedemodulating unit has a phase difference relative to a carrier waveincluded in the received signal.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, whereinthe predetermined phase difference is a multiple of a value obtained bydividing π by the number of synchronized clock signals.
 15. Theapparatus of claim 9, wherein the demodulating unit samples the receivedsignal more than two times during a clock period.
 16. The apparatus ofclaim 9, further comprising a filter which removes a jitter from thedemodulated received signal.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein thefilter comprises a digital filter.